The administration of President Donald Trump has announced a major overhaul of the online application known as CBP One, which was previously used to process asylum claims at the U.S. southern border.
The app has now been redesigned as a platform for “self-deportation.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revealed the changes in a statement on Monday.
“The CBP Home app gives aliens the option to leave now and self-deport, so they may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future and live the American dream,” Noem said.
“If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return.”
The revamped app, now called CBP Home, will automatically redirect users of the previous CBP One app to the new version.
CBP One was one of the first targets of Trump’s second term. On his first day back in office, January 20, Trump issued a directive ordering the government to stop using CBP One as part of his broader immigration crackdown.
The very next day, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) — the federal agency that managed the app — confirmed that all asylum appointments made through the app had been canceled.
The decision left thousands of asylum seekers stranded at the border, some after weeks or months of waiting for their scheduled appointments.
“It was a huge blow. After all we’ve been through, all the waiting, all the hope, it’s incredibly disheartening,” one asylum seeker, Giovanni Martino, told Al Jazeera last month.
CBP One was launched during Trump’s first term to manage various immigration services. It facilitated appointments for inspecting perishable goods shipped across the U.S. border and allowed international travelers to check the status of their I-94 admissions applications.
In 2023, under President Joe Biden, the U.S. government announced an expansion of CBP One’s use.
The app became the primary means of claiming asylum at the border, a controversial move that critics compared to Trump’s own efforts to restrict asylum.
Both U.S. and international law recognize the right to seek asylum, including the right to cross international borders if a claimant fears persecution.
However, the Biden administration warned that, except in rare cases, asylum seekers who crossed the border irregularly — outside official ports of entry and without proper documentation — could face a five-year ban from reentering the U.S. and possible criminal prosecution.
The administration required nearly all asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border to register for appointments through the app or face expulsion.
During Trump’s 2024 re-election campaign, he and his allies accused Biden of using the app as an open gateway for migrants to enter the U.S.
At an October rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Trump baselessly claimed that Mexican cartels were using the app to manage illegal migrant drop-offs.
“They have an app that’s being used by the cartel leaders, people that are making billions of dollars. The cartel leaders — think of this — call the app and they say where to drop the illegal migrants,” Trump said.
In Monday’s statement, Noem echoed Trump’s accusations that the Biden administration had misused the CBP One app.
“The Biden Administration exploited the CBP One app to allow more than 1 million aliens to illegally enter the United States,” she said. “With the launch of the CBP Home app, we are restoring integrity to our immigration system.”
Noem framed the CBP Home app as part of a wider Trump administration advertising campaign titled “Stay Out and Leave Now.”
The Trump administration has revoked several legal pathways for migrants to remain in the U.S., including temporary protected status and humanitarian parole for certain groups.
Trump also issued a proclamation suspending asylum processing at the border indefinitely, a move critics called illegal. Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are currently challenging the suspension in court.
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